About:

A group of small town vloggers head to Hollywood to become the stars of a new reality tv show. Will their share of challenges and secrets behind the camera keep them from making it big?  

Chap 1 Angie Present Day

"Just what does Mike want with us?" Angie leaned over the counter asking Dani. "We hardly know the guy." 

"Let me guess, he has a niece or nephew who're big fans of our show?" Cindy quipped. "Close. A daughter and he'll want a little something from us for her but, this is all bigger than that." Dani said.

"How so?" Angie wondered.

"He'll tell us when we get there." Dani told them. If they wanted to make his meeting on time, they had to get going.

On the way to Mike's offices, Cindy and Angie hastily put on their makeup. Dani watched Cindy resort to wiping off her eyeliner yet again, succumbing to the fact she could not get it on well. Angie already did hers earlier that day. These guys and lack of a heads ups, Cindy thought. She was taken aback by the suddenness of it all.

Moments later, their chauffeur Paul skidded to a stop in front of a building. They made their way into it, but not before a couple pictures of them were taken by photographers. The bright flashes made them glad to have shades on hand. They gave no response to the boisterous people wanting their shot who seemed to be everywhere these days.

On the ride up the floors, a certain lady was overtly chatty with them. Another fan, they pondered exchanging knowing looks. She went on and on about their show. They were eager to get off on their floor just to catch a break. The ding went off when they got to Mike’s floor. Angie nonetheless exchanged pleasantries with the girl, telling her how nice it was to have met.

"This's actually my stop too." The lady exclaimed taking a look around the impressive room. She rambled off about her intern position when someone called out to them.

"Girls!" They all turned towards the low booming voice. It was Mike. He looked just like every other employee there, all business and wafting of cologne. "You're all here. I see you've already gotten to meet Tania." Before he continued he leaned over telling her to retrieve the remainder of his documents from his office. After Dani quickly made formal introductions he settled them in. The whole ride there, she had not spilled a thing, though Cindy and Angie prodded her. It was making Angie nervous. What could be so serious as to warrant Mike's inclusion she wondered. Within his office space overlooking the city down below there was a nice seating area with a large thin wooden table in the center. He wasted no time getting to the point. “Only having Dani as my client, you must be wondering why I asked you all to be here. I've come upon something I wanted to make you aware of. To be blunt, I fear your agent is ripping all of you off your earnings." He watched this sink in. "That explains it." Dani said under her breath. She had her suspicions. "Dani, if I may?" He politely asked if he could divulge information from their case. She nodded. "Dani recently called me to double check her contracts. She'd feared this was occurring herself. And after some digging, I came to find…" He pulled out a document laying it in front of them. "This."

"And just what are we looking at?" Angie asked.

"Dani do you recognize this?" He asked her. She picked it up to examine it as Tania came in, the smell of the coffee drinks she carried filling the room. Dani agreed she did and she set it back down.

"Thing is, I didn't. Not until a few days ago when, your agent Kelly emailed it to me." He said.

"Impossible. You oversee all my contracts." She got curious as to how it got by him. Angie and Cindy exchanged glances of confusion.

"I'm afraid, she had you sign it without my knowledge." He laid out her remaining papers. "These are the only ones I was aware of."

"What's so special about this one then?" Angie asked picking up the extra paper.

"That." Mike pointed at. "Gives Kelly 20% of all her earnings."

"What?" Dani blurted. This was news to her. Kelly was taking a majority of her earnings. She had duped her.

"And you think, she's doing it to us too?" Cindy asked.

"I have reason to believe. Girls, I'm thinking, you're not even seeing most of what you're making." Each of their faces were stricken. "Your agent's swindled it out from under you." He motioned his hand. 

"She can't do that." Cindy was angered. 

"Angie, Cindy, did she have you sign a similar document?"

"Maybe." Angie answered.

"Did you happen to save them anywhere? I'd like to have a look at them if you don’t mind." Cindy perused through her blue purse for her phone while Angie claimed to have it on hers as well. Mike glanced at the pdf Angie showed him. He compared it to Danis' and did the same with Cindy's. He was not shocked to find it was the same. Kelly had conned them out of what was theirs. If Cindy was none the wiser of the amount Kelly was taking from her, perhaps he wondered, the other girls weren't either. "Do any of you remember agreeing to such a price?" They all said no. He asked them roughly how much they agreed to, and it was much lower than what Kelly had them sign off on paper. "What do we do now?" Dani asked.

Chapter 2 Dani

Dani was in one of her two houses in her bedroom in Canada. She was in the midst of packing for her trip to Cabo. She would be spending her birthday on vacation with friends. Leo her pet dog came and sat beside the bag she checked, making sure all her contents were inside. She placed a book she was ready to read into her bag when her alarm to leave and head out went off on her phone. She asked the others in the hallway if they were ready to go. Jake relayed how Sierra was stressed with all the packing and was far from ready.  Dani figured they needed a couple more minutes so she made her way to the front hallway where Leo waited with her on the beige woven mat. Leaning down she pet him and scratched his chin. "Goodbye baby, I love you" she said. She would see him in two days. "Paw!" She waited to see if he would obey and he quickly put his paw out on top of her sneaker clad foot in response like she taught him.

Outside it was still dark and on the driveway, the trunk of the white car was packed with suitcases. "All aboard!" Dani exclaimed. One of her friends Brianna almost did not make it on their vacation. She lost her passport before the trip even started. She accidentally put it in the garbage, for it to end up in the trash chute where it stayed for two days. They all thanked God it had not been garbage day. Had it not been found in time, she would not have been able to join them in Cabo. It would have been a bummer because she always made an experience that much more fun. Her personality was a lot like that of Jake's who was always ready for a good time. Over their friendship Dani came to find he liked to make sure everyone was doing good. Andre, was the guy who captured all their antics on tape which they watched and reminisced over. And lastly Sierra, who Dani liked to describe as the friend who is always down. Down to hang, have a good time or whatever it was, they were up to that day. Out of her group of friends, Dani was, as they would say, the finnesser of the group. She could get absolutely everything and anything for free.

The ride they booked through an app service, dropped them off at the airport. Dani, glad they made it in time, rushed to a restaurant within the building in search of a green matcha drink. After checking in, they boarded shortly after and got in their respective seats in first class. During the flight, Jake, Dani's seat mate noticed her caught up in her book, but that she still found time to curl her hair between boarding and leaving her house. He knew she would want to look somewhat presentable even if she did have an early start to the morning.

On departing the flight, they saw a sign reading, "Welcome to Los Cabos". A white limousine picked them up and the ride was a full house. Jake was busy trying to fix the music player and get it working while the girls nagged him to do so but they all ended up singing even though the player was down. They had a good time until it worked again. A couple songs later, two bell hops tended to their bags as they headed inside the building. Being close to the water made the place that much more appealing and Dani and Brianna voiced their love for it. Inside they were less than happy to discover their room was not ready for them. Not ones to let an inconvenience get in their way they considered their other options. They decided in the meantime, to rent a yacht. Sierra also convinced them to upgrade to a villa instead, which they all agreed on. Even though it was all last minute, everyone was up for it and for lugging all their stuff to the yacht.

At the boat pier, a medium sized yacht awaited them with a crew lined at it's exterior anticipating their arrival. Black glasses hung off their white polo shirts. Acquaintances and a warm welcome were made by all. A man named David from the crew could hardly wait for the birthday girl, whom he was notified was Dani, to see the set-up he and his crew put up for her celebration. He saw their energy, matched those of spring-breakers they often entertained. "Walk in, and see what we've got for you upstairs." David told her. Dani appreciated the enthusiasm for her celebration and wanted to see just what he was talking about. Once inside, she found plates of fruits and cheese laid out. She was surprised to find the crew had even put on her latest single on the speakers. She released it only months earlier to a great reception from fans. Her friends even knew the song by heart. They were present for the recording, music video shoot and were supportive during its’ premiere date.

Behind the girls, David watched her go to the seating area and spot the pink balloons saying Happy Birthday. Her cake was laid out on a brown table. It had a doll on top, supposed to represent her. It also had sunflowers draped on the sides of the pink and white icing. It was last minute, but they had the connections to make it happen. They had been doing this for years for their guests. They did what they could to make sure they remembered their stay and hoped at least, they recommended their services. It came time for David to give the usual tour of the yacht. When he did, the guests loved that a private chef was on deck. It had one bath and shower. Of the three bedrooms, one was a master which the birthday girl called dibs on. The upstairs also lead down to the water if anyone cared for a swim and it was also where meals were held. Specifically their dinner which would be sushi. He made them aware of all the amenities available to them. The front of the yacht had a section where they could sit and lay out in the sun which the guests did for a bit before supper. The top section held a small seating area as well, if one wanted to relax.

As they all made their way around, Dani watched Andre come up from the water. She insisted they jump in together but not before Brianna got it on film. Afterwards, Dani left him to it joining the others laying out in the sun at the front. The view of the clear blue water was beautiful and the sunset was even more so. David ever so diligent in his work, discussed with the chef the appetizer arrangements to be made before dinner. He also instructed a member of the crew to light the cake candles for it to be presented once again to Dani. As she blew out her candles, he watched her friends hoot and holler. So far, everything was running smoothly and hopefully would for the rest of night. They insisted they would only remain for dinner and would head to a villa for the rest of their stay there in Cabo. Their service accommodated guests who stayed for days, and some who chose to stay for only some hours. For dinner, the chef made sushi, shrimp covered bacon, grilled veggies and mashed potatoes. David overheard them complaining over how they hated to leave and how much they were enjoying themselves.

At the Villa, the group was amazed yet again. It was way bigger than they thought it would be. It had a lot of room, unlike the yacht with huge with king sized beds. In the stainless steel kitchen, on the counter top, the workers at the villa made sure to leave a special dessert. When Dani removed the cover off the dish, drizzled in chocolate were the words, "Happy Birthday".

As usual the group jokingly fought over who could have the best closet space. Dani being the type of person she was, went ahead and organized all her stuff in it. After the day’s events, they were all beat, and tired. But she still had to upload footage to send to her editor for her viewers to watch. But she was too tired to do so just yet. It was her day and she figured she would be allowed to miss at least one deadline.

For the remainder of her stay she enjoyed her much needed time away from home. Andre did a lot of filming both for personal use and for her channel. As she rested at the villa, she came to like it more than the hotel they initially planned for. Though the mix up had been inconvenient, she came to terms that everything happened for a reason. Whether it was meeting new people, or finding new experiences you never thought you could be able to experience. One more day remained until

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 13.02.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-3232-6

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